Marianne
“There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” – Edith Wharton
Here's a lovely shot of Marianne that I took a little while back for a biotech client. I knew it was going to be an interesting shoot, as soon as the client and I spotted the atrium with the light pendants, during the recce for the shoot. The Man Ray print of Kiki de Montparnasse in the Background was perfectly positioned. I hope you enjoy the image - C
Pixel Peepers' Notes
Where to start with this image? Firstly, it pays to have clients that know what they are doing. This took quite a while to set up, and their patience was key to it's creation. There are four light sources that require balancing and colour matching, including the downlighters, a large window off to the left that's flooding in the daylight, the globes themselves and two Bowens flash heads and two reflectors adding fill and catch lights as required. The brief required us to see Marianne and the reflections of the globes in the glass, but nothing more. The Man Ray print on the wall in the background adds to the image, with both it's subject matter, and the fact that it's black and white as its lack of colour focuses attention away from Kiki and toward Marianne. Of course, the relaxed look that Marianne is selling is the opposite of the moment. She is standing on a crate, leaning over the balustrade, a little higher than she is comfortable with. And, the glass in digging in to here arms. Her hair is falling over her shoulder, every other shot! The hair stylist is standing just out of shot holding one of the reflectors, while the assistant keeps his eye on the flash packs, whilst taking exposure reading as the sun is in and out requiring constant settings changes. And, all of this on a borrowed Sony A7R MkII body! (Thanks Ian). As you would expect, there is quite of a lot of post production on this shot, including cleaning up the reflection of the model.
This shoot marks my transition from medium format to full frame mirrorless. (I took my full Hasselblad Kit, including digital back to this shoot as a back up... and never used it!) At this point I wasn't a 100% confident with the Sony Alpha system. Camera: Sony A7R Mk II - Lens: Sony FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS @ 70mm f5.6/160/ISO500 Model: Marianne S Assistant: Alasdair Sandy Make Up Artist: Katrina Tuktareva
